


The Fall

by WinterandSpringSpirit1992



Series: Goodbye, Nii-chan [2]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Angst, Depression, Gen, Guilt, Moving On, Sorry Not Sorry, Tearjerker, Tragedy, Yokai!Tadashi, fem!Hiro, let's see how evil I can be this time, or at least trying to, recreation of Gwen's death from TASM 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 06:03:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3680688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterandSpringSpirit1992/pseuds/WinterandSpringSpirit1992
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Remember, it's not the fall!  It's the SUDDEN STOP."</p><p>- The Joker, Batman: The Animated Series:  "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne"</p><p> </p><p>The final battle at Krei Tech.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Terminal Velocity

**Author's Note:**

> For full impact during Hiro's death, I recommend listening to two tracks from The Amazing Spiderman 2 at the specifically marked places.
> 
> (*) = 'Let Her Go'  
> (**) = 'Rest of My Life (Film Version)' (on YouTube).

Hiro didn't know how long she sat on the stairs, still in shock from the events that had happened earlier.

The man in the mask was her brother, and he didn't know her or the others or Baymax.

Some part of her had always hoped and dreamed that he had survived the fire, but not like this. Never like this.

"Hiro."

Hiro's train of thought was broken and she turned to see Gogo.

"I think you might wanna see this," was all Gogo said.

Without a word, Hiro stood up and followed Gogo to the control room.

Hiro didn't know what to expect after rewatching the whole video, she certainly hadn't been expecting there to be more of the video and to see Callaghan barreling into the room and trying to attack Krei as a couple people held him back while he screamed at Krei, before the video footage cut off.

"Wait," Wasabi said. "If Tadashi is still alive, does that mean Callaghan's still alive too?"

"Stranger things have happened," Hiro answered. "At this point, I don't think I'd be surprised if it turned out Callaghan was alive and behind everything."

"It's just like those comic books," Fred said. "The hero's friend gets turned against them and it's all up to the hero to try and snap out of it. Of course, the hero tends to fail sometimes."

That grabbed Hiro's attention.

She was afraid to ask, but…

"Why? What happens if they fail?" She asked.

"Usually, the hero has to off them or the hero gets offed by the friend," Fred told her.

Hiro found herself reflecting on those words as they flew out of Akuma Island. After dropping them off at Fred's mansion and telling them that she was going to head home and fix Baymax's scanner, she and Baymax left, but not before she noticed the concerned looks Fred, Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey were giving her. Not that she could blame them. She'd just found out her brother was alive and was being used against them.

As she and Baymax began flying home, Hiro remembered flying through the city and how she'd allowed herself to forget everything, all of her troubles, and her brother's supposed death. She was considering flying Baymax back up to the turbine blimp and scanning for Tadashi, to just try to find him and bring him back. But who was she kidding? It was a bad idea for two reasons. One: Baymax's sensors weren't working. And two: it'd be suicide if just she and Baymax went looking for her brother without help from Wasabi, Gogo, Honey, and Fred. So she made the painful decision to just go home and fix Baymax's sensors.

After fixing the sensors in Baymax's helmet, Hiro sat in her chair for a long time staring at his helmet as if it were a crystal ball that held all the answers in the world. She knew that the next time she faced her brother, she would have to fight him. And if she had to fight him, there would be three different outcomes: the slight chance that she could get through to him, the very high possibility that she would have to take him down if she couldn't get through to him, or even worse, being killed by her brother as Fred had pointed out sometimes happened when the hero's friend/loved one was turned against them and the hero failed to snap them out of it.

It was a thought she couldn't bear.

"Hiro?" Baymax spoke up.

"Yes, Baymax, what is it?" Hiro asked.

"I am detecting a drop in your neurotransmitter levels," he told her. "What seems to be the trouble?"

She turned to Baymax and looked him over as she began considering an option. She could just tear out Baymax's healthcare chip, hunt down Callaghan, and sic Baymax on him. Then all her troubles would be over. But the more Hiro considered the option, the more she began to realize something.

 _What am I thinking?_ She thought. _I can't do that to Baymax!_

He was her brother's life work and she would be taking away the very point of him and using him to commit murder. She was certain that in another universe, one where her brother didn't survive the fire and Callaghan turned out to be the man in the mask, she would've happily torn out Baymax's healthcare chip and ordered him to destroy Callaghan.

"Nothing's wrong, Baymax," she finally answered. She then opened the drawer of her desk and began digging through it for a computer chip, until she found a black computer chip. After checking the computer chip to make sure it was empty, she walked over to Baymax with the computer chip, saying, "Everything's fine." After grabbing the stepladder, she took off Baymax's chest armor, opened his access port, and took out the red chip with the fighting moves, shutting her eyes for a moment to fight back tears when she was faced with the healthcare chip, and set it down before inserting the black computer chip. As she did, she said, "I wanna record a message for my brother…just in case."

 _Just in case I don't make it out of the next confrontation alive and he snaps out of it then,_ she added silently. _If I do make it out alive, I'll make sure he never sees it._

"Alright. Test, test, 1, 2, 3," she said, staring into Baymax's eyes. "Baymax, is it working?"

Baymax gave her an affirmative answer.

"Alright," she said again, before she took a deep breath. "Hey, Tadashi, it's me. If you're watching this, then that means I'm dead. I…I just want you to know that I don't blame you. A long time ago, you told me you weren't giving up on me. I want to thank you again for that." She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she silently willed herself to just finish her message before she broke down. "No matter what you do, you'll always be my niisan and I'll always be your imouto. I love you."

After Baymax had finished the recording, she took out the computer chip, putting a piece of masking tape on it and labeling it 'For Tadashi', and put Baymax's fighting chip back in. After she did, she slumped against Baymax, pressing her forehead against him, and allowed the tears to come as she broke down sobbing. She began sobbing even harder as she felt Baymax wrap his arms around her in a hug and pat her head.

She didn't know how long she stood there, being hugged by Baymax, until she heard her sobs die down and she remained slumped against Baymax, emotionally drained and spent. Finally, she pulled away, wiping her eyes. There was so, so much she wanted to thank Baymax for, but she didn't know how.

She had one last thing to do before she and the others headed out for the next confrontation. Tell Aunt Cass what she had actually been doing this whole time.

The problem was how she would go about it. Because she couldn't just say, "Hey, Aunt Cass. I'm a superhero and it turns out Tadashi is alive, but he doesn't remember anything. So now I'm going to have to fight against him and there's a slight chance I might not come back."

Oh yeah. That would go over really well.

* * *

The next morning, after giving Aunt Cass a condensed explanation about what she had been doing, deciding to leave out the part with a brainwashed and amnesiac Tadashi, Hiro and the others flew out to Krei Tech. Sure enough, as she had guessed, Callaghan was there and was, indeed, behind everything. And now while Fred, Gogo, Honey, and Wasabi fought against the microbots, she was currently trying to avoid a fight with her brother.

As Hiro and Baymax were pursued by her masked brother and the microbots, Hiro took a deep breath and mumbled, "Alright, Hiro, this is it. Any last words?" Hiro bit her lip as she thought for a moment. Then she said, "Yeah, I really hope I make it out of this alive!"

But then a swarm of microbots slammed into her, knocking her off of Baymax and separating the two so Baymax couldn't catch her. She began to fall, but the microbots grabbed her by her neck and lifted her up until she was face to face with her brother. Hiro started to gasp for air as the machines began to tighten around her throat, cutting off her air.

Nevertheless, she gasped out, "Tadashi…" She flinched as the grip became tighter. "You…know me," she gasped out.

"No, I don't!"  He spat at her.

"You've known me...your whole life," she croaked, unfazed by his denial. "Your…your name…is Tadashi Hamada."

" **SHUT UP!** " He screamed at her, and the grip around her neck tightened.

 _No, I won't,_ Hiro thought, even as she glared defiantly at him through red-rimmed eyes and black spots started to appear in her vision.

"I…won't…fight you," Hiro gasped out, as she slowly reached up and took her helmet off. She then allowed it to drop to the ground below. "You're…you're my...brother."

She saw her brother's fist clench at his side and the next thing she knew, the microbots released her and she began to fall. Just as she passed the roof, she reached out and grabbed onto the ledge. She began to climb up, gasping for air and coughing after being strangled, but she didn't have time to recover as the microbots slammed into her again and she started to fall again.

"Hiro, hold on!" She heard Honey shout.

Honey launched her chemical balls at the building, creating blue foam and Hiro reached out and stuck her hand into it, stopping her fall.

Hiro started to panic as her hand began to slide out of the blue foam produced by Honey's chemical balls. She frantically began trying to find some sort of a hand or foothold in the building in front of her, but since the building was all windows, found none whatsoever. Her panic began to rise when her eyes caught sight of her reflection in the window. Right above her, the swarm of microbots was aiming at her. She looked up at her brother with a terrified look in her eyes.

 _He wouldn't._ She thought. But then a doubt began to rise. _Would he?_

 _Well, let's see, Hiro,_ a doubtful voice told her. _He attacked you three times, he pretty much terrorized you, and he's more than proved himself capable of trying to kill you. And don't think he won't, because it seems like he's going to make sure nothing or nobody will stop him from what he's about to do to you this time._

"Nii-chan?" She asked, staring up at him and looking lost and helpless.

The microbots began to race straight toward her and Hiro fearfully squeezed her eyes shut and pressed herself against the building, waiting for the moment when the microbots would slam into her again and she would begin plummeting to her doom…

But nothing happened.

Confused, she opened her eyes to find that the microbots had stopped a few feet away from her. She looked up to see her brother had stopped them and was staring down at her.

_Nii-chan._

That word was familiar to Yokai, but he didn't know why. And the girl. The girl he'd encountered at the warehouse. The girl who'd fought against him, trying to avenge an older brother she thought dead. The girl who claimed he was her brother and that his real name was Tadashi. The girl who was now staring up at him in confusion when only moments before, she'd been looking up at him in fear…she seemed familiar too. And there was a name, a name that was equally familiar.

"Tadashi?" The girl mumbled so softly he almost didn't hear her.

_Nii-chan._

Again, the word nudged at him as he continued to stare down at the girl, whose eyes now looked so familiar. And just as suddenly, he clutched his head in pain as a floodgate of memories opened up.

Carrying the girl who was a toddler up to bed when she'd fallen asleep.

Aunt Cass. The cafe.

Building robots with the girl.

His friends at SFIT and Baymax.

Rescuing the girl from bot fights every time she ended up angering a few fighters, which was always.

Taking her to SFIT under the guise of taking her to another bot fight to meet his friends and introduce her to Baymax and getting her interested to apply to SFIT.

The showcase and her success at getting in.

And then the fire. Racing into the flames to save Callaghan even as she desperately tried to stop him.

The girl. The girl had a name, but what was it?

 _Hiro,_ he realized. _Her name is Hiro. My imouto._

Hiro was now wondering what was going on, as were Honey, Gogo, Wasabi, Fred, and Baymax.

 _Tada-nii?_ She thought.

"Hiro?" Tadashi said, as he stared down at Hiro, who was now staring up at him with what looked like hope in her eyes.

The two could hear Callaghan shouting at Tadashi. To do it, finish her off.

A wave of anger washed through Tadashi. That was his sister down there. And Master - no, not Master - Callaghan, his idol, his mentor, the man he had once looked up to, was trying to make him kill his own sister. In a heartbeat, Tadashi directed the microbots away from his baby sister and waved them at Callaghan.

Hiro nearly laughed for joy. Her brother was back! And he remembered everything!

"Yes, yes!" She screamed happily. "It's me, Tadashi! It's me, Hiro, your imouto! I'm right here! I'm right - "

But in all the joy and celebration, she hadn't realized how close her hand was to slipping out of the compound until her hand suddenly came free of the foam and she let out a cry of surprise as she began to fall.

Unaware of what had happened, Tadashi slammed Callaghan onto the ground, knocking him out.

"That was for my sister," Tadashi snapped at him.

But then he heard Honey, Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred shout, "HIRO!"

Hiro? What happened to Hiro?

Tadashi turned back to where he'd last seen his little sister, but saw only the chemical compound on the building.

 _No…_ he thought. _Please, no…_

He looked down and saw Honey, Gogo, Fred, Wasabi, and Baymax flying down. His heart stopped when he saw why. They were flying down after his little sister, who was falling toward the ground.

Without a moment's hesitation, Tadashi summoned the microbots and flew down after his sister. (*) Her face, how surprised and terrified she looked, was all he could focus on. He waved his hand and a small wave of microbots separated from his swarm and formed the shape of a hand, which flew past Baymax, Wasabi, Fred, Gogo, and Honey and straight down toward Hiro, all while he was silently pleading with whatever higher power was listening to not let him be too late to save her.

Noticing the microbots flying down toward her, Hiro looked up past the microbots and her teammates and saw her brother and his fear and desperation as he sent the microbots down after her. As Hiro neared the debris-covered ground of Krei Tech, she stared up at Tadashi, reflecting on the irony of the situation and realizing what was about to happen. She'd gotten her brother back, but now he was going to lose her. It didn't come to her as any surprise though; she'd known going into this battle that she might not make it out alive.

She then closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate, knowing what was coming, that Baymax wasn't going to catch her this time and that there was nothing Tadashi and the microbots, her creations, her _damned_ invention that started this whole mess in the first place, could do to save her.

But only one thought comforted her: her brother was back.

That was all that mattered.

And her last thought as the hand of microbots latched around her waist was, _Goodbye, Nii-chan. I love you._

Once the microbots had caught her, Tadashi waved for them to stop her fall. The microbots pulled taut around her waist and stopped her descent just inches from the ground.

SNAP!

The sudden stop combined with the rate at which Hiro had been falling caused her head to whip back in reaction, bouncing off a piece of debris with a sickening thud, and her body went still.

Tadashi flew down on the microbots and landed beside her motionless form hanging suspended in the air, before taking her into his arms. He took off his mask, flung it onto the ground, and stomped it to pieces. The remaining microbots were sucked up into the portal, including the ones latched around Hiro's waist, and the portal, with nothing to hold it up, began to fall.

As the portal crashed and exploded, Tadashi quickly turned around, dropped to his knees, and held his sister close to him, shielding her from the shockwave. Once the danger had passed, he sighed in relief. They were both safe now. But then he realized something.

Hiro hadn't even moved once while he was holding her.

"Hiro?" He said in concern, but she didn't answer. By now, he was starting to notice how limp she was in his arms and her head lolling back at an unusual angle. "Hey, hey," he said, as he shifted her in his arms and tried to wake her up, almost not noticing her head lolling about as he did so. "Hiro? Hey," he said softly, waiting for her to do something.

She was just playing a trick on him. Any minute now, she was going to burst out laughing, open her eyes, smile impishly at him, and say, "Gotcha!" and he would reprimand her, tell her to never ever scare him like that again, and then hold her close and never let go until she jokingly told him that she couldn't breathe.

And yet, she didn't do anything. (**) Her eyes were still closed and her body hung limply in his arms like a rag doll.

"Breathe, breathe," Tadashi said, resting his hand on her cheek. "Hey, you're okay. I've got you."

But nothing happened. If anything, Hiro's eyes remained closed and she still hung limply in his arms.

And Tadashi found himself remembering the way Hiro had looked at him moments earlier (there had been a look of grim understanding in her eyes) and wondering why if she knew the microbots were going to catch her, she had closed her eyes.

He didn't hear Baymax, Honey, Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred walk up to him and softly say, "Hiro?" upon seeing her still body in Tadashi's arms.

"Stay with me, stay with me," Tadashi desperately begged Hiro, tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he brushed his fingers through her short, messier than usual hair. "Stay with me, stay with me," he repeated as if they were the only words he knew, even as he suddenly began to understand why his little sister had closed her eyes before the microbots had caught her but refused to believe it. "You stay with me."

As if some cruel trick of fate had been waiting for him to say those words, a drop of blood slowly dribbled out of Hiro's nose.

"Hiro? Hiro!" He cried, watching as the blood slowly ran down her face like a drop of red paint. "No, please! Please!" He finally broke down crying then, realizing she was dead, as he sobbed, "Please…" He hung his head over his little sister's body, his tears dropping onto her face and rolling down her cheeks as he whispered, "Don't leave me."

But she didn't answer. She couldn't answer.

Tadashi could only cradle her body and rock her back and forth, sobbing and mumbling, "Wake up, Hiro. Please wake up."


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi deals with his little sister's death and trying to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the next and final chapter. Prepare to have your heart torn out even more.
> 
> Quick note: I don't know everything about medical terminology, I mostly got the injuries Hiro sustained from comments on Gwen Stacy's death in The Amazing Spiderman 2 that were debating on what killed her.

The funeral for Hiro Hamada takes place the next day after the clean-up at Krei Tech.

It isn't hard to track down Tadashi, who is hiding out in the warehouse where Hiro and Baymax first discovered her microbots being mass-produced, thanks to Baymax's enhanced sensors. Honey leaves a note with the black computer chip containing Hiro's final message to Tadashi, which she had told the others to give to him in the event she didn't make it out alive, on the door, letting him know when the funeral is and when the funeral home will be empty enough for him to go in and say a proper goodbye to Hiro.

Tadashi almost doesn't go, because he still feels guilty for the part he played in her death

(out of all the ways he's pictured his imouto going out, he's always assumed that he'd arrive too late to rescue her from an angry person who'd accused her of hustling at one of the botfights she would go to)

but mostly because Hiro's expression just before she died won't stop haunting him. Her eyes wide with surprise and terror as she fell toward the ground, before she'd stared up at him for a split-second with that grim, knowing look, and then closed her eyes just as the microbots caught her and stopped her fall, only to cause her death.

At first, he thinks it was just a nightmare, that he dreamed her death, but when he'd woken up in the middle of the night, he had no idea where he was at first and had begun to call out to Hiro to tell her about his nightmare until he took notice of his surroundings and her damaged helmet lying near him, before he realized it hadn't been a nightmare.

He still remembers what happened after he realized his little sister was dead clear as day.

He'd desperately turned to Baymax for help, because maybe (just maybe) there was something he'd missed, that she wasn't dead and there was still time for Baymax to save her. But any hope he'd had that she was still alive had flown out the window when Baymax had scanned her and revealed that she wasn't showing any signs of life. The fall, despite Tadashi's attempt to save her, had killed her and she'd sustained a broken back, severe whiplash, and a concussion. He'd then began to look everywhere, anywhere but at the lifeless body of his baby sister, until his eyes landed on Callaghan and Krei.

Something within Tadashi had snapped then upon seeing his former professor, the man responsible for causing his sister's death, standing there and all he could focus on was making him pay for what he'd done to both him and his sister, his imouto who he'd promised to protect the day their parents had died.

_"It's okay, imouto. Nii-chan's here, Nii-chan's got you. I promise…I'll never let anything happen to you, Hiro."_

But now she was dead as a result of his failure to keep his promise to her and because he'd ran into that burning building even as she desperately begged him not to.

He remembered dropping his little sister, not even noticing Baymax catching her body before it could hit the ground, lunging toward Callaghan, and beating him senseless all while cursing him, until he realized that hurting him wouldn't be enough and then began strangling him with the intent of killing him, not unlike how he'd used his sister's microbots to try and choke the life out of her, which caused his heart to squeeze in pain at the very thought of not being able to apologize to her for doing that.

 _A life for a life,_ he thought, grimly.

However, Gogo and Wasabi grabbed him by his arms and pulled him off of Callaghan, telling him to stop, he's not worth it, this isn't what Hiro would have wanted, and despite what he thought, killing Callaghan wouldn't bring Hiro back.

Tadashi wanted nothing more than to ignore them and finish what he started, but the mere thought of his sister, alive or dead, being so disappointed in him about what he was doing was enough to stay his hand. Nevertheless, he glared at Callaghan one last time before knocking him out with an uppercut. He'd then taken off his black trench coat and draped it and a piece of the broken kabuki mask over Callaghan. He'd turned to leave, but stopped one last time to look at his baby sister and lightly caress her cheek before the paramedics took her away. Before he left, he found his little sister's helmet, which she had dropped after she gasped out that she wouldn't fight him, lying amidst the debris, cracked and dented with a spiderweb crack in the visor, and took it with him.

The thought that her helmet would be the only thing he had to remember her by is enough to convince him to go to her and say his goodbyes. And just before he leaves, he sticks the computer chip into his pocket after reading the extra note Honey had written about it on the back: _'Hiro wanted you to see this.'_ He's not sure he can look at what's on it yet, he's not even sure he wants to, but only time will tell when he will.

* * *

It's noon when most of the guests leave the funeral home for a short while, which allows Tadashi to sneak in and see Hiro before they transport her body to the church for the funeral. She's dressed in a dark purple dress (she always hated dresses, preferring pants, a T-shirt, and a hoodie) almost similar to the armor she was wearing in both confrontations and lying inside a coffin of white velvet, hands folded over her chest, with no trace of blood running out of her nose and no evidence of the injuries that killed her, and looking almost peaceful. For a moment, Tadashi entertains the notion that Hiro isn't dead, but just sleeping, that she's playing a joke on him.

"You know, Hiro, I swear you look like you're going to wake up any moment and reveal it was all just a joke and you're okay," Tadashi finally speaks up. "You think you could do that just for me? Wake up and tell me you're okay?" She doesn't answer, not that he's expecting her to. He's silent, not knowing what else to say.

He recalls something she'd told him once. _"That hero complex of yours is gonna get you into trouble one day."_ He had no idea how right she would've been.

Then he says, "I'm so sorry, Hiro. For everything. I'm sorry I ran into that building. I'm sorry I broke my promise. I'm sorry you, Fred, Wasabi, Gogo, Honey and Baymax got involved. And I'm sorry I didn't remember you until it was too late."

He kisses his little sister on the forehead, then steps away.

He remains hidden in the shadows, watching the funeral from the back of the church and later watching from underneath a willow tree as Hiro is buried in between their parents and an empty grave that is supposed to contain her older brother. As she is, Tadashi can't help but blame himself.

What kind of brother lets this happen to his little sister?

If he'd never steered his baby sister toward SFIT, if he'd just taken her to another bot fight instead, if he weren't so selfless, she wouldn't be where she is right now. She never would have made the microbots. The fire never would have happened. Callaghan would never have taken him and brainwashed him to the point of trying to kill his own sister.

Once everyone leaves, Tadashi walks over and places a single daffodil, her favorite flower, on her grave. He stands there for a long time, staring at it and a little picture of her propped up against the gravestone.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, he stands in front of his sister's grave, which is now gathering bouquets of flowers, a silent sentinel standing watch. As he does, his thoughts keep returning to the black computer chip and wondering whether or not he should look at it and maybe move on from his sister's death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. As for whether or not Tadashi ever watched the message Hiro left for him on the computer chip, I'm leaving that up to you guys to decide.


End file.
